Urban Water Service Policies and Management in Spain: Pending Issues

Abstract

In the context of a developed nation like Spain, there are still important challenges to improving urban water service. Pending issues include the insufficient supervision and control of water service management, low prices that do not foster an efficient use of water, enormous disparity in water tariff design, deterioration of water quality at origin, insufficient network renewal, high level of water losses, lack of waste water treatment plans and supply quality problems. This paper describes all these problems and proposes measures and recommendations to solve them.